Tennis: Coco Gauff takes aim at Serena Williams’ legacy – 8/27/2023 – Sports

One year after Serena Williams’ emotional tennis farewell at Flushing Meadows, young American Coco Gauff dreams of starting to write her story at the US Open, which begins on Monday.

The 19-year-old Florida star, who grew up idolizing Serena and Venus Williams, arrives at the New York meeting in her prime to challenge for her first Grand Slam title after an impressive run of results on this hard-court tour.

Earlier this month, Gauff won the WTA 500 tournament in Washington and last weekend he lifted his first WTA 1000 trophy in Cincinnati.

In Cincinnati, she also scored her first win against world number one and defending US Open champion Iga Swiatek after seven failed attempts, including the 2022 Roland Garros final.

Gauff’s run of form over the past month makes her one of the favorites for the final Grand Slam of the year.

Gauff has been one of the world’s great promises since, four years ago, she became known with a brilliant campaign until the fourth round of Wimbledon, aged just 15.

The American, currently number six in the WTA rankings, says her recent success has been based on learning how to win even when she’s not playing her best tennis.

“I believe that’s what makes a champion: how you do on days when you don’t feel so great,” she declared after her victory in Cincinnati.

Gauff says he spent “many nights crying at home” early in the season as he struggled to find his best form.

“It was difficult for me because I knew what I needed to improve,” he pointed out. “I would go to training and work on it. But it didn’t translate into games. I can still improve a lot.”

Ascending trajectory

If Gauff’s upward trajectory continues over the next two weeks, she could become the fifth black woman to win the US Open in the open era, following in the footsteps of the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens and Naomi Osaka.

Now that Serena Williams has left the stage, Gauff is aware that many consider her the great standard-bearer for the next generation of African-American tennis players.

It’s a responsibility the teenager willingly takes on, though she doesn’t think she can compare to Serena Williams. “It’s something I don’t take lightly,” says Gauff. Sometimes I think that adds to the pressure because I know this community of people, the community of people of color, people of color, look up to me so much.”

“Especially with Serena’s retirement, people look to me as the next tennis leader or something,” she said. “But Serena is the greatest of all time for a reason. I’m part of ‘all time,’ so I don’t know if I can make it as far as her. That’s the dream.”

“For me, it’s simply about pushing myself as hard as I can to be the best version of myself and being the best Coco on and off the court,” she concluded.

Sixth seed Gauff’s path to the title in New York could bring challenges such as a new duel against Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, is another figure standing in Gauff’s way.

Tournament starts this Monday

Gauff, seed number 6, begins her journey at the US Open this Monday (28), against Laura Siegemund (121th in the ranking), from Germany. The two face each other in the first game of the night session at the Arthur Ashe arena, the main stadium of the tournament, starting at 8 pm (Brasília time).

Next, Novak Djokovic enters the court, back in the last grand slam of the year after being denied entry to the United States due to lack of a vaccine against Covid in 2022. Current number two in the ranking, the Serb faces Frenchman Alexandre Muller, 84th in the world.

The day begins at Arthur Ashe with Iga Swiatek, world number one, and Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson (86), followed by Americans Francis Tiafoe (10) and Learner Tien (700), a 17-year-old wild card.

Brazilian Bia Haddad Maia (19) faces Sloane Stephens (36), champion in Flushing Meadows in 2017, in the second match on the Louis Armstrong court, after the clash between Victoria Azarenla (18) and Fiona Ferro (190), starting at 12h .

The tournament will be shown on Sportv3, Espn2 and Star+.